It has been six seasons since any team has broken the stranglehold atop the Midwest Division of the Houston-Utah-San Antonio cartel. Annually, various preseason prognosticators predict Denver or Dallas will leapfrog into the race or aging Houston or Utah will finally tumble. Hasn't happened.
But this season, the youngest of the Big Three, the Spurs, might be the most vulnerable. Dream Teamer David Robinson will miss the start of the regular season because of back problems, and just when he'll return isn't clear.Unable to shake the lower back pain that kept him out of preseason action, Robinson visited the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Inglewood, Calif., where he was diagnosed with "a mechanical lower back strain," according to Spurs trainer John Andersen.
The Spurs say he'll be out 2-4 weeks from last Tuesday, when his rehabilitation began. The club suggested Robinson's back trouble was related to hernia surgery in August, but the league's most valuable player in 1994-95 had complained of back pain in July while competing in the Atlanta Olympics.
The upside is doctors don't think he needs surgery, which could wipe out his season. Teammate Chuck Person, hoping for a reprieve from back surgery, went along with Robinson to the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic, only to have his original diagnosis confirmed. His back surgery to repair two herniated disks is scheduled for Tuesday. He's expected to be sidelined 3-6 months.
Still, all timetables related to back injuries are speculative at best. As the Spurs' preseason performance without Robinson indicated, they are not an elite team without him.
"We're going to have to sit down and see what changes we have to make," said coach Bob Hill. "This is not like losing Dennis Rodman, where we had to make up for 15 to 17 rebounds. We have to make up for 26 points, 12-13 rebounds and three to four blocked shots."
"The most critical call we'll have to make is when to bring him back, when there will be no danger of a relapse," said Spurs executive vice president Gregg Popovich.
One of the battles in the West this season will be between the generations. Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers, two teams given a chance to challenge Seattle for the conference title, are already woofing about it.
"We put a bunch of young guys together and they put a bunch of old guys together," said Lakers forward Cedric Ceballos. Replied the Rockets' Charles Barkley, a former teammate of Ceballos with the Suns: "We are an old team. I'm just surprised Cedric's smart enough to know it." . . . Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon are 33; Clyde Drexler and Kevin Willis are 34. But that's not Houston's immediate problem. Free agent signee Brent Price had just returned from a sprained knee ligament when he broke the humerus bone in his left arm Thursday. The Rockets must now search for someone to quarterback their aged cast.